Top cop in the dock

Jackie Selebi, South Africa’s ex-top cop, is finally on trial for corruption. The trial has the potential to either reassure South Africans the world over that the system isn’t completely broken, or confirm just how rotten the state’s law enforcement bodies, and with them the hope of curbing crime, have become.

The long-delayed corruption trial of former South African national police chief Jackie Selebi began last week Monday, with Selebi pleading not guilty to two charges of corruption and one charge of defeating the ends of justice.

The State alleged in papers brought before the court that "Agliotti and/or Kebble and or Rautenbach and/or the relevant corporate entities have benefited the accused… in an amount of at least, but not restricted, to R1.2 million.”

The relationship between Selebi and Agliotti, who met in 1990, "entails numerous payments in South African and foreign currency, as well as clothing and other gift… In return, the accused rewarded Agliotti by inter alia informing him of the existence of an investigation into his criminal activity." So goes the State’s case against Selebi.

After pleading not guilty to all charges, Selebi swiftly accused two ex-chief prosecutors, Bulelani Ngcuka and Vusi Pikoli, of fabricating evidence against him and fraternising with criminals, thereby opening a large can of worms and announcing his strategy for the battle ahead: he will fight the charges against him by dishing out evidence incriminating other high-profile public figures and arguing that they conspired to plot his downfall.

Selebi’s lawyer, Jaap Cilliers, said: "The prosecution against him… is with ulterior motive”.

Selebi had wanted the now-defunct specialist crime-fighting unit known as the Scorpions to be dissolved and incorporated into the South African Police Service, partly because the DSO had acted beyond its mandate in foreign matters. Selebi’s support for the dissolution of the Scorpions, as well as his alleged knowledge of wrongdoing by Ngcuka and Pikoli, caused him to be maliciously targeted, Cilliers argued.

The disbanding of the Scorpians was a controversial and highly-politicised issue, not least because members of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) were being investigated by the Scorpians at the time of the unit’s disbandment.

In a plea explanation read out to court by Cilliers, Selebi accused Pikoli of obtaining a "material gratification through his wife from the late Brett Kebble/JCI Group in an improper way". The "gratification" consisted of shares in mining company Simmer & Jack.

When Selebi confronted Pikoli about his wife’s shares, Pikoli "became very emotional" and allegedly said to Selebi that his wife was his "Achilles’ heel".

According to Pikoli’s lawyer, Aslam Moosajee of Deneys Reitz attorneys, the Pikolis deny receiving any gratification from Kebble of the JCI Group.

Selebi accused Ngcuka of attempting to extort a bribe from former Hyundai boss Billy Rautenbach’s lawyer, James Ramsay. This, according to Selebi, was during a discussion with Ngcuka about a possible plea bargain for Rautenbach.

"Ngcuka… was more interested in information regarding mining rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe than in the offences that Rautenbach allegedly committed," the plea explanation read. If true, this could signal an uncomfortable examination of intelligence operations in Central African wars at the time.

Rautenbach, who fled South Africa in 1999 to avoid arrest on fraud and theft charges, was appointed to head the Congolese state miner, Gécamines, in a deal between DRC president Laurent Kabila and Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to help pay for Zimbabwe’s support against insurgency from the east.

In June 2000, Ngcuka wrote to Rautenbach’s lawyer, saying “there is a real possibility of us finding a mutually acceptable solution” to the South African charges, but that Rautenbach would have to answer questions about a company called Hewa Bora Ltd that Rautenbach had registered, and about “members of foreign governments” laundering money through South Africa.

Hewa Bora, a town in the eastern DRC, was Kabila’s rebel headquarters. It is also the name of a Congolese airline, thought to be connected to Kabila family business interests.

Ngcuka rejected Selebi’s claims "with contempt" and said the former police chief was trying to create a "sideshow".

Over the course of the week, cross-examination of Glenn Agliotti, the first witness called to testify, revealed a complex web of allegations and favours, which could have far-reaching implications for top law-enforcers and politicians, including former president Thabo Mbeki and current president Jacob Zuma. Mbeki, who sought to protect Selebi at all costs, will have some serious questions to answer if the court finds Selebi guilty. There is also widespread speculation that police involvement in leaks damaging to Jacob Zuma – including the 2005 rape allegations and his wife’s suicide note – might explain Selebi’s perceived willingness to go to war for Mbeki.

From the dock, Agliotti casually disclosed a history of expensive shopping trips on which he bought high-end clothing for Selebi. The court heard that the pair frequented Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Aigner, Dunhill and Mont Blanc stores, splurging on suits and shoes and stopping for cappuccino breaks. He spoke of envelopes of cash he used to bribe Selebi, who was in turn useful to Agliotti’s “clients” and let him in on a UK intelligence report about detailing his (Agliotti’s) whereabouts, among other intelligence documents.

At one point in his testimony, the convicted drug dealer broke down in the witness box. “I didn’t want to be here to testify against my then-friend and the accused,” he said before the court adjourned for a 30-minute break.

Selebi chuckled at this, telling journalists Agliotti would need a “box of tissues” during the cross-examination. But Agliotti later agreed to the majority of propositions put to him by Cilliers, including that he is innocent of Kebble’s murder.

Cilliers implied the State was using the murder charge to get Agliotti to testify against Selebi. The trial continues this week.